Emotions Are More Important Than They Seem
by CrazyApplesandOranges
Summary: Sai finds a little girl in the streets and takes her to the Hokage. Tsuande says that she can't deal with her right now, and Sai takes her in. Now he has learned the secrets of emotions thanks to one little girl-Kohana Yamazaki. On hiatus
1. Chapter 1

Sai wandered through the streets of Konoha, wondering what was wrong with Naruto today. He had seemed agitated this morning, before Lady Tsunade had herded them out of her office. Sai shrugged it off, knowing that eventually the blonde would announce it to the while village.

He heard a whimper from in front of a bakery and nearly ignored it. When it came again, however, he stopped and stared at the little girl.

She was about five, with short dark hair and green eyes. She was barely tall enough to see over the window sill her dirty face was pressed against, and her dress was so filthy and tattered Sai couldn't tell what color it had been.

The little girl was practically salivating at the sight and smell of fresh bread. Sai frowned, barely a downward tilt of his lips, and stepped closer to the girl.

"Hello," he said, smiling the way only he could. She jumped and turned around guiltily, nearly crying when she saw his ninja headband.

"Please, mister, I wasn't doing anything wrong!" she cried. "Don't take me to jail!"

Sai crouched down in front of her. "No, no," he whispered. "I'm not going to take you to jail. I'm just wondering why you're alone."

"Oh." The girl's face relaxed and she stared down at the ground. "Mommy and Daddy were mean to me."

Sai tilted his head to the side questioningly. "Why don't I buy you some bread and you can tell me what you mean," he suggested.

The little girl nodded and Sai took her hand to pull her into the bakery. The baker frowned down at the girl's appearance before turning to Sai. "What would you like?" he asked, leaning against the glass.

The girl studied her choices before shrugging. "A loaf of bread is fine," she said quietly.

"One loaf of bread and a glass of water, please," Sai said. The baker nodded and prepared the order before tallying the total.

"Twelve ryo."

Sai pulled out the appropriate amount and passed it to the baker. He took the bread and cup of water before leading his companion over to a nearby park and sitting down on a bench.

"What's your name?" Sai asked as he handed the girl her bread.

"Kohana Yamazaki," she answered softly, her dark hair falling into her face.

"My name is Sai."

They sat in silence for a moment. "What did you mean by saying your parents were mean to you?" Sai finally inquired.

Kohana took a bite of her bread. Then she held out her arm, where Sai could just barely see the greenish-yellow outline of a bruise. "See this?" she said, fingering the bruise. "Daddy hurt me. Mommy left."

Sai frowned again. "Why?"

Kohana shrugged, pulling the tattered remains of her sleeve over the bruise. "Daddy was mean, Mommy hated us. That's all I know."

"Why are you out in the streets?"

"I ran away."

/\/\

Sai walked calmly to the Hokage's office, an innocent sleeping Kohana in his arms. Right now he was almost glad Root had trained him to be emotionless on the outside, because on the inside he was fuming. How could anyone treat Kohana like that? She was so sweet and innocent.

He climbed the steps to Tsunade's office hurriedly, knocking on her door. When she called that it was okay for him to come in he pushed open the door angrily.

"Lady Tsunade," he said. "You must fix this."

Kakashi and Tsunade blinked at him and the little girl in his arms.

"Sai?" Tsunade said. "What are you doing here?"

"Kohana ran away from home because she was abused."

Tsunade sat back in her chair. "Who are her parents?"

Sai lifted his shoulders a fraction in his version of a shrug. "Her name is Yamazaki."

Tsunade groaned. "We've had trouble with them before."

Kakashi leaned against the wall. "How did you find her?" he inquired lazily, an air of boredom surrounding him.

Sai felt a flash of anger directed at the older shinobi and barely suppressed it. How could Kakashi not see that Kohana was _abused_?

"She was in the street in front of the bakery. I bought her some bread and asked her some questions about why she was there," Sai explained through gritted teeth.

Tsunade seemed to catch his anger and cut a warning glare at Kakashi before her amber gaze was trained back on Sai. "Well," she sighed. "There isn't much we can about it now. Why don't you take her back to your apartment and as soon as we can we'll get a hold of her parents."

Sai glanced down at the sleeping child in his arms and nodded. "Yes, Lady Tsunade," he said, bowing shallowly so as not to disturb Kohana.

He left without being dismissed.

/\/\

In his apartment, Sai set a groggy Kohana on his couch and gently brushed a hand across her cheek.

"Kohana?" he asked quietly. She blinked up at him and smiled.

"Sai!"

She hugged him tightly and Sai forced himself to react to this nearly foreign act—Naruto was _very_ touchy-feely sometimes.

"Kohana, you will be staying with me for a while," Sai said. "And, as my responsibility, I will be giving you a horribly needed bath."

Kohana giggled and followed him to the bathroom. Sai turned the water on and monitored it as it filled the tub.

He turned to Kohana and helped her out of her ruined dress and underwear, dropping it to the side. Later he would call Sakura and see if she could get a new dress or something.

Kohana climbed into the warm water and Sai studiously scrubbed her small body until her skin was pale pink.

Sai could clearly see the bruises littered across the little girl's arms. Some were relatively new, others were older, a green-yellow color. The corners of his mouth tilted down.

"I hate to ask you this, but how long ago did you run away?" Sai asked.

Kohana swirled her hand through the dirty and soapy water. "A couple days ago," she replied, her voice small.

Sai tilted his head to the side. Deeming her clean, he pulled the plug and lifted her out of the tub. He hunted around for a moment before finding a towel; he wrapped it around Kohana and rubbed her dry.

"I'll give you something of mine to wear until my friend can get you some clothes, okay?" Sai said. Kohana nodded and followed him as he walked towards his bedroom.

Sai pulled out one of his old shirts and gave it to Kohana. She stared up at him expectantly. He blinked.

"What?"

"I don't have underwear."

Sai went and grabbed her underwear off the bathroom floor. He handed it to her and grabbed the phone Naruto insisted he have off his nightstand. He scrolled through it for his contacts and found Sakura; he pressed call.

"Hello?" Sakura yawned into the phone.

"Sakura, can you do me a favor?" Sai questioned, watching as Kohana tried to figure out how to get dressed.

"What, Sai?"

"I need some children's clothes."

There was a long silence and then, "Sai, I really do not need to know what you do when you're at home."

"No, no, Sakura," Sai said. "I'm taking care of a little girl and she needs clothes."

"Oh. What does she like?"

"…She wears dresses?"

"What's her favorite color?"

Sai pulled the phone from his ear. "Kohana, what's your favorite color?"

Kohana poked her head through the arm sleeve of the shirt and said, "Green."

"Green," Sai repeated into the phone. Sakura was silent. "Sakura?"

"I heard you. I'll be right over. Be prepared to pay me."Sakura hung up and Sai dropped the phone back in its place.

Well, that was one hurdle crossed. Almost.

A/N: Did anyone else realize how fatherly Sai was being when he was trying to get Yuukimaru to come with him? I did, and this is the result of it. I borrowed Kohana from Hinata, and I hope she liked my portrayal of her! Review, please?


	2. Chapter 2

Sai sighed and said, "Come here, Kohana." He crouched as Kohana stumbled over to him, helping her fix the shirt. It was way too big on her, and if it was adjusted it could be a dress. "There you go."

"Thank you, Sai," Kohana said happily. Sai smiled, and if Sakura was there she would have been able to tell that it was a _real_ smile.

He stood up. "Are you hungry?" he asked. Kohana nodded. He led her into the small kitchen, opening the fridge.

"What would you like?"

"Can I have a sandwich?"

Sai smiled again. Kohana kind of reminded him of Hinata with how quiet she was. "What kind of sandwich?"

"Uh…ham and cheese?"

"Sure."

Sai prepared the sandwich in his usual silence, feeling awkward now that he realized that he had another mouth to feed. He barely ate himself – what with missions, he never had the time, and how else would he – to quote Naruto – keep his awesome figure?

This was going to be a huge change.

Sai handed Kohana her sandwich and a glass of milk. She pulled herself up to sit at the bar and bit into the sandwich.

"So how old are you?" Sai asked.

"I'm three years old!" she stated proudly. Sai smiled and looked up as someone knocked on the door.

"I'll be right back," he told Kohana before standing up and walking the short distance to the door.

"Hello, Sakura," he said as the pink-haired girl opened the door before he had even reached it.

"Sai," she greeted coolly. Sai arched an eyebrow. He vaguely wondered what he did before he remembered that it had sounded like he had waken her up. Oops.

He held out his arms to take some of the bags she had piled up in her own arms, and he stumbled as Sakura dropped the bags on him.

She strode past him and to Kohana, where she nearly froze. Sai couldn't tell why over the thousands of bags on him, but he had a feeling it had something to do with Kohana.

"Ohmigod, she's so cute!" Sakura said and threw her arms around the little girl. Kohana laughed and hugged her back.

"Sakura," Sai grunted. She ignored him. "Sakura," he repeated louder. She finally looked at him.

"What?"

"How did you buy this so fast? I called you only fifteen minutes ago."

"I'm a girl," she answered. "Shopping is, like, my super power."

He dropped the bags on the bare floor, unable to hold the insane amount even with his shinobi strength. Sakura glared at him lightly, but she didn't seem horribly mad.

Kohana went back to her sandwich, but she was so interested in their conversation she swiveled around on her chair to watch them.

"What's your name, sweetie?" Sakura asked Kohana softly. The little girl smiled.

"Kohana."

Sakura nearly melted, and Sai was getting an idea.

If Kohana could thaw Sakura's attitude, what could she do with Sasuke, or even Neji and Gaara?

/\/\

Naruto frowned at Sai, his arm wrapped around Gaara. The Kazekage was staring at the wall behind Sai, probably thinking about Suna. He had taken a few days off to come to Konoha, mostly to talk to Tsunade about something, but also to spend time with his boyfriend.

"When did you have a kid?" the blonde asked. Sai looked down at Kohana, peacefully sleeping in his arms.

"Oh, she was outside of the bakery yesterday. She ran away from home, and I brought her to Lady Tsunade. She put me in charge of her until something could be figured out."

"Why did she run away?" Ino wondered, sitting close to Choji.

"Her parents abused her."

"Oh."

Everyone glanced at Kohana, who shifted and yawned. She opened her eyes and jumped when she saw everyone. Sai smiled.

"Kohana, these are my friends." Kohana stared up at him then back at the shinobi gathered around them. "This is Naruto and Gaara," Naruto grinned and Gaara ignored them. "Naruto wants to be the Hokage and Gaara is the Kazekage."

"What's a Kazekage?" Kohana asked quietly.

"A Kazekage is the leader of Suna," Sai answered. "That is Ino and her boyfriend Choji. Sasuke is the one sulking by the tree with Neji; Kiba is with the massive dog, Akamaru. Shikamaru is…" Sai looked around for the Nara. "Oh! He's sleeping over there."

Kohana smiled at all of them, especially Sakura. The pink-haired girl grinned back.

"Now, Kohana, do you think you can remember all of them?" Sai asked. "Because I spend a lot of time with them, which means that you probably will too."

Kohana nodded. "Yep. I have everyone."

Ino smiled at her. "Aw! Choji, she's cute!"

Choji nodded, subtly edging away from the blonde. He knew what was coming next.

"Choji! Can we—"

Choji was gone. Ino swore quietly, then ran after him. Sakura rolled her eyes. Shikamaru stumbled over to them, rubbing his eyes.

"Anyone know what time it is?" he asked, yawning.

"Yeah, it's three," Naruto said. Shikamaru yelped.

"Darn it! Temari's going to kill me!"

Sai laughed quietly. Their relationships were so weird.

Kiba scratched his nose as he stood next to Akamaru, then jumped as Kankuro called out to him from across the field.

"Oh! Gotta go, have a date tonight," he said. He waved to Kohana. "It was nice meeting you, Kohana."

She smiled and waved as both he and Shikamaru sprinted away. Sai shifted her in his arms, adjusting her dress so it covered her underwear.

Naruto glanced back at Sasuke, who had curled up next to Neji tiredly. "Jeez," he muttered. "Why is everyone so tired today?"

"Everyone had missions yesterday, Naruto," Sakura replied, cocking her hip against a tree. She stared over at Sasuke. "Especially Sasuke."

That was true. Everyone had been on missions. The only reason Sai wasn't on one yesterday was because he had been on a particularly long one and was on a break.

"Well, Kohana," he said. "What do you think about getting some food?"

She clapped. "Yes!"

Sakura turned her attention back to them. "Sai, where's my money?"

Sai sighed. "I'll get it to you when Lady Tsunade pays me."

"When?"

"When I get paid."

Sakura groaned, then walked over to them. "Okay, you can pay me then. But you need to monitor your spending. I want my money as soon as possible."

She followed them as they walked to the grocery store.

A/N: So what do you think of this story? So far I really like it. And I have plans. Hehe. Review?


	3. Chapter 3

Okay, I am so sorry I haven't updated in so long. I know I promised I would, but I just lost the motivation. I've lost the motivation to do everything. Some mornings I wake up and I just wonder if there's any point to it. I've just been going through so much shit the past couple months with my friends and family, and I could have been spending so much time writing and didn't.

I've decided that I'm just going on a break. I can't handle the guilt I feel because I haven't updated but I don't want to force something out that won't be as good as it could be.

This hiatus shouldn't be too long - school is ending soon but I am also being shipped off to my grandparent's the day after school ends and God-knows where else. I'll try - I swear to God, I will try - to write, but I can't make any promises. Until I get through all this crap, I can't make any promises.

I am so sorry for getting your hopes up a new chapter. I hate myself for this, but I just couldn't handle this anymore. I'm sorry.


End file.
